Lock for overhead garage doors and the like



NOV. 24, 1970 c, MADDQX I 1 3,541,816

LOCK FOR OVERHEAD GARAGE DOORS AND THE LIKE Filed April 29, 1968 44 5g Ff) 0Fifa3.

I 40 34 M/I/ENTOR ATTORNEY 22 26 DAYTON C. MADDOX I I UnitedStatesPatent 3,541,816 LOCK FOR OVERHEAD GARAGE DOORS AND THE LIKE Dayton C.Maddox, 4003 /z Whistler Ave., El Monte, Calif. 91732 Filed Apr. 29,1968, Ser. No. 724,744 Int. Cl. E05b 55/00, 65/06; EOSc 1/04 US. Cl.70--134 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A lock is provided forclosures such as overhead garage doors and the like. The lock has a lockbolt movable between locking and unlocking positions, and a key operatedlatch mechanism for latching the locking bolt in its locking position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates generally to locks and more particularly to a novel lock foroverhead garage doors and the like.

Prior art It will become readily evident to those versed in the art asthe description proceeds that the present lock may be employed toadvantage on a variety of closure structures. However, the lock isintended primarily for use on hinged overhead garage doors and, for thisreason, will be disclosed in connection with an overhead garage doorstructure.

Overhead garage door structures are widely used in family dwellings andcomprise a door frame defining a door opening containing the garage doorproper. The vertical sides of the door are attached to the verticalsides of the door frame by hinges which support the door for verticalswinging movement between a closed posi tion wherein the door isvertically disposed within and closes the door opening and an openposition wherein the door is disposed in a generally horizontal overheadposition.

A variety of locks have been devised for such overhead garage doors. Theexisting locks of this class, however, are characterized by variousdeficiencies which the present invention seeks to cure. Foremost amongthese deficiencies are complexity of construction, high cost ofmanufacture, difliculty of installation, lack of adequate security, andabsence of tamper-proof construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved lockwhich, as noted, is particularly designed for use on overhead garagedoors. The present lock is characterized by its simplicity ofconstruction, relatively low cost of manufacture, ease of installation,and secure tamper-proof construction.

In general terms, the lock is characterized by a lock bolt to be mountedon one member of a closure structure for longitudinal sliding movementbetween a closure locking position and a closure unlocking position, anda key operated latch mechanism for locking the bolt in its lockingposition. The bolt is accessible from both sides 3,541,816 Patented Nov.24, 1970 of the closure for movement between its locking and unlockingpositions. The key operated latch mechanism has a key receptacle whichis accessible at one side of the closure, whereby the latch mechanismmay be unlocked with a key from this side of the closure to permitretraction of the lock bolt to unlocking position and opening of theclosure or door. In the particular embodiment of the invention which hasbeen selected for illustration in this disclosure, the key operatedlatch mechanism is equipped with a knob accessible at the opposite sideof the closure for unlocking the mechanism by hand. A feature of thisdisclosed embodiment resides in the fact that the lock bolt and keyoperated latch mechanism are carried by a mounting plate in such a waythat the lock may be quickly and easily installed on one member of aclosure structure, such as an overhead garage door, by simply cutting anappropriately shaped opening in the door and mounting the lock plateover the opening.

According to another feature of the disclosed embodiment, the latchmechanism is a conventional door latch which may be embodied in thepresent lock without modification to lock the sliding lock bolt in itslocking position. This feature, then, greatly simplifies theconstruction and reduces the cost of manufacture of the present lock.

As noted earlier, the lock of the invention is intended primarily foruse on overhead garage doors and will be described in connection withsuch a door. In this case, the lock is installed on the door in such away that the lock bolt, when extended to locking position, engages thedoor frame to block opening movement of the door.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of adoor lock according to the invention installed in an overhead garagedoor structure;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the lock in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 33 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,there is illustrated a closure structure 10 having a closure framemember 12 defining a closure opening 16, and a closure member 20positioned within the opening. In this instance, the closure member isan overhead garage door which is mounted on the door frame by hingemeans (not shown) for swinging movement between a closed position,illustrated, within the door opening and an overhead open position. Thepresent invention provides a lock 22 for locking the door in its closedposition.

In general terms, the lock 22 comprises a lock bolt 24 which is mountedon one member of the closure structure 10 for longitudinal slidingmovement between locking and unlocking positions, and a key operatedlatch mechanism 26 for latching the bolt in its locking position. Thebolt, when in locking position, engages the opposite member of theclosure structure to block opening movement of the closure or door. Whenin its unlocking position, the bolt clears the opposite member to permitopening movement of the door. The bolt is accessible at both sides ofthe door for movement between its locking and unlocking positions. Thekey operated latch mechanism 26 has a key receptacle 28 accessible atone side of the door to receive a key, and a latch bar 30 which ismovable between latching and unlatching positions by rotation of a keyin the receptacle. When in latching position, the latch 30 projectslaterally into the path of unlocking movement of the lock bolt 24 so asto latch the bolt in its locking position. The latch, when in unlatchingposi tion, is retracted from the lock bolt path to release the bolt forunlocking movement. The latch mechanism also has means 32 operable fromthe side of the door 20 opposite the key receptacle 28 for retractingthe latch bar 30 to its unlatching position. In this instance, the latchoperating means 32 comprises a knob which may be rotated by hand toretract the latch.

Referring now in greater detail to the embodiment of the invention whichhas been selected for illustration, the lock 22 has a mounting plate 34including a generally rectangular portion 34a and a coplanar extension34b along one vertical side of the rectangular portion. The lower andupper sides of the mounting plate in FIG. 3 are hereinafter referred toas its front and rear sides, respectively. Welded or otherwise rigidlyjoined to the rear side of the mounting plate 34 is a hollow tubularmounting pad 36 of rectangular outline. This mounting pad has a width onthe order of one-half the width of the mounting plate and is locatedadjacent the side edge of the plate opposite its extension 34b. The padis spaced substantially equal distances from the latter plate edge andthe upper and lower plate edges, as shown. Extending through themounting plate 34 adjacent its upper edge, within the region of theplate between its extension 34b and the mounting pad 36, is a slot 38.Slot 38 extends crosswise of the plate in spaced parallel relation toits upper edge.

Lock bolt 24 has an intermediate cross member 40 and coplanar front andrear bolt portions 42, 44 rigidly joined at one end to and extending inopposite lateral directions from the cross member. The front and rearbolt portions are disposed in parallel, laterally opposite relation toone another. The extending front end 40a of the cross member 40 providesa handle for moving the lock bolt from the front side of the door. Thelock bolt has a rear extending end 40b which provides a rear handle onthe bolt for moving the latter from the rear side of the door.

Lock bolt 24 is mounted on the lock plate 34 in such a way that the boltcross member 40 extends through the plate slot 38. The offset front andrear bolt portions 42, 44 are located at the front and rear sides,respectively, of the plate and parallel the plate slot. The front boltportion 42 extends in a direction of the lock plate extension 34b. Therear bolt portion extends in a direction of the opposite side edge ofthe mounting plate. Rigidly joined to the front side of the plateextension 34b is a front bearing 46 which slidably receives the frontbolt portion 42. A rear bearing 48 secured to the rear side of the rearmounting pad 36 slidably receives the rear bolt portion 44. It is nowevident, therefore, that the bearings 46, 48 slidably support the lockbolt 24 for endwise movement parallel to the mounting plate slot 38.

The lock bolt latch mechanism 26 is a generally standard door latchhaving a housing 50. This housing is fastened to the rear mounting pad36, below the rear bolt portion 44 which extends across the upper end ofthe pad, as shown. The latch bar 30 of the latch mechanism slidesvertically in the upper end of the latch housing and is normallyextended by a spring within the housing to its latching position of FIG.2. In this position, the latch is located in the path of movement of adepending latch shoulder 52 on the lock bolt 24. The front face 54 ofthe latch, that is, the latch face which is presented in the directionof locking movement of the lock bolt, extends normal to the path of thelock bolt. The rear face 56 of the latch is bevelled, as shown.

Engagement of the front face 54 of the latch 30 with the lock bolt latchshoulder 52, as shown in FIG. 2, latches the lock bolt 24 in its lockingposition. The key receptacle 28 and the knob 32 of the latch mechanism26 are operatively connected to the latch bar 30 so that rotation of thereceptacle with a key, or rotation of the knob by hand, retracts thelatch downwardly in FIG. 2 to clear the lock bolt latch shoulder 52.Lock bolt 24 is then released for retraction to its broken line orlocking position of FIG. 2 from either the inside or the outside of thedoor 20 by grasping the corresponding lock bolt handle 40a, 40b. Returnof the lock bolt 24 to locking position results in engagement of thelock bolt latch shoulder 52 with the rear camming face 56 on the latchbar 30, whereby the latch is cammed downwardly to clear the shoulder.Upon arrival of the lock bolt at its locking position, the latch 30springs back to its latching position of FIG. 2 to relatch the bolt inlocking position.

The lock 22 is installed by cutting in the door 20 a rectangular opening58 slightly smaller than the lock plate 34. This opening is locatedadjacent one vertical side of the door at a convenient level above theground. The lock is then installed in the opening from the outside ofthe door so that the lock plate 34 covers the opening and seats againstthe outer surface of the door about the opening, as shown in thedrawings. Bolts 60 are now inserted through drilled holes in the doorand lock plate to secure the latter to the door. These holes maycomprise carriage bolts or other suitable fasteners which cannot beremoved from the outside of the door. After the lock has thus beeninstalled, a hole 62 is drilled in the door frame 12 to receive the lockbolt 24 when the latter is extended to locking position.

It is now evident that the lock bolt 24, when in locking position, locksthe door 20 against opening. The door may be opened from the outside byinserting a key into the key receptacle 28 and rotating the key toretract the latch bar 30 and then sliding the lock bolt to unlockingposition. The door is opened from the inside by rotating the latch barknob 32 by hand to retract the latch 30 and then sliding the lock boltto unlocking position. The door is locked by reversing this procedure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with a presentlypreferred embodiment thereof, it will be obvious that variousmodifications of the invention are possible.

What is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent is:

1. A lock comprising:

a mounting plate having front and rear sides,

a lock bolt,

means supporting said lock bolt on said plate for longitudinal movementbetween locking and unlocking positions,

a unitary totally self-contained key operated latch mechanism mounted onsaid plate for releasably locking said bolt in locking position,

said lock bolt including a laterally projecting latch shoulder at saidone side of said plate and an operating handle accessible at each sideof said plate, and

said latch mechanism including a housing laterally offset to one side ofsaid lock bolt, a latch bar mounted on said housing for movementlaterally of said lock bolt into and from the path of said latchshoulder during unlocking movement of said bolt, means including a keyreceptacle on said housing accessible from one side of said plate and ahandle on said housing accessible from the other side of said plate forretracting said latch bar clear of said lock bolt to release said boltfor movement to its unlocking position, and removable fasteners securingsaid housing to said plate whereby said latch mechanism may be installedon and removed from said plate without removing said bolt.

2. A lock according to claim 1 wherein: movement to its unlockingposition, and removable said latch bar has a front la tch face normal tosaid fasteners securing said housing to said one member, path whichengages said latch shoulder in the lockwhereby said latch mechanism maybe installed and ing position of said bolt to latch said bolt againstremoved without removing said latch bolt. retraction to unlockingposition, and 5 8. An overhead garage door structure comprising: saidlatch bar has a rear inclined cam face which ena frame member having anopening,

gages said latch shoulder in the unlocking position an overhead garagedoor member within said opening of said lock bolt to permit return ofsaid lock bolt having inner and outer sides, to locking position by aforward thrust of said bolt means mounting said door member on saidframe so that said latch bar is cammed to retracted position member formovement between open and closed by said latch shoulder. positions, 3. Alock comprising: a lock including a lock bolt slideably mounted on one amounting plate having front and rear sides, of said members adjacent anedge thereof for longia lock bolt, tudinal movement between an extendedlocking posimeans supporting said lock bolt on said plate for tionwherein one end of said bolt engages the other longitudinal movementbetween locking and unlockmember to block opening movement of saidclosure ing positions, member and a retracted unlocking position whereina key operated latch mechanism mounted on one side said bolt end clearssaid other member to permit of said plate for releasably locking saidbolt in lockopening movement of said closure member, handles ingposition, and on said bolt accessible from either side of said strucsaidlock bolt including a central cross member extendture for moving saidbolt between said locking and ing through a slot in said plate, a frontbolt portion secured to and extending in one lateral direction of saidcross member at the front side of said plate,

unlocking positions, and a key operated latch mechanism on one of saidmembers including a latch bar engageable with said bolt to lock saidbolt in its and a rear bolt portion secured to and extending in lockingposition and means including a key receptacle the opposite lateraldirection of said cross member accessible from one side and a handleaccessible at the rear side of said plate. from the other side of saidstructure for retracting 4. A lock according to claim 3 wherein: saidlatch bar clear of said lock bolt to release said rear lock bolt portionhas a laterally projecting said bolt for movement to its unlockingposition,

latch shoulder, and said lock bolt having a central cross memberextending said latch mechanism includes a latch bar movable through anopening in said door member, a front bolt into and from the path ofmovement of said latch portion secured to and extending in one lateraldishoulder with said bolt during retraction of said bolt rection fromsaid cross member at the front side of to unlocking position. said doormember, and a rear bolt portion secured 5. A lock according to claim 4wherein: to and extending in the opposite lateral direction said latchmechanism comprises a conventional latch from said cross member at therear side of said structure including a housing bolted to the rear sidedoor member, 7 of said plate and containing said latch bar for movesaiddoor frame member having a bore for receiving ment thereof into and fromthe path of movement said front bolt portion in the locking position ofsaid of said latch shoulder.

6. A lock according to claim '5 including:

a mounting pad secured to the rear side of said mounting plate, and

lock bolt, and

said latch mechanism is mounted on said door member with said keyreceptacle accessible from the front side of said door member.

9. An overhead garage door structure comprising:

a frame member having an opening,

an overhead garage door member within said opening having inner andouter sides,

means mounting said door member on said frame said latch housing issecured to the rear side of said pad, whereby said housing is spacedfrom said mounting plate.

7. A closure structure comprising:

a closure frame member defining a closure opening,

member for movement between open and closed a closure member positionedwithin said opening,

means mounting said closure member on said frame positions,

member for movement between open and closed a lock including a lock boltslideably mounted on one Positions, and of said members adjacent an edgethereof for longia lock including a lock bolt slideably mounted on onetudinal movement between f extended locking P of said members adjacentan edge thereof for longition wherein one end f Said bolt eflgagesfheother tudinal movement between an extended locking posimember to blockopenlng movefnent Sa1d closufe tion wherein one end of said bolt engagesthe other and a retracted unlocklng P0Sltlon wherelfl member to blockopening movement of said closure Sald P end clears Sald Pther member toP511111t member and a retracted unlocking position wherein Openlngmovement of $ald closul'fi f id b l d clears i other member to permitdles on said bolt access ble from either slde of said opening movement fi closure member, handles structure for moving said bolt between saidlocklng on said bolt accessible from either side of said and unlocklngPOSIUOIIS3 and a 3f P latch structure for moving said bolt between saidlocking mechanism on of t members lflcllfdlng a and unlocking positions,and a unitary totally selfbar e l l Wlth Sald b01t t0 Sald bolt 111 Itscontained key operated latch mechanism on one of locklng P and meansIncluding a y t:- said members including a housing laterally offsettacle accessible fl'Ol'Il one side and a handle 300E851- to one side ofsaid lock bolt, a latch bar mounted ble from the other side of saidstructure for reon said housing for movement into latchingengagetracting said latch bar clear of said lock bolt to ment with saidbolt to lock said bolt in its locking release said bolt for movement toits unlocking position, means including a key receptacle on saidposition, housing accessible from one side of said structure said lockbolt is accessible from both sides of said and a handle on said housingaccessible from the structure, other side of said structure forretracting said latch said key receptacle is accessible from the outerside of bar clear of said lock bolt to release said bolt for saidstructure,

said lock comprises a mounting plate secured to said door over anopening in the door,

said plate mounts said lock bolt and latch mechanism,

said bolt has a cross member and said latch mechanism is mounted on therear side of said plate, and said plate has a slot through which saidbolt cross member extends.

10. The combination according to claim 9 wherein:

said rear lock bolt portion has a laterally projecting latch shoulder,and

said latch mechanism includes a latch movable into and from the path ofmovement of said latch shoulder with said bolt during movement of saidbolt to unlocking position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ERNEST R. PURSER, PrimaryExaminer E. J. Mc CARTI-IY,

Assistant Examiner us. 01; X.R'.

